John Gorton

John Gorton (9 September 1911-19 May 2002) was Prime Minister of Australia from 10 January 1968 to 10 March 1971, succeeding John McEwen and preceding William McMahon.

Biography
John Gorton was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1911, and he was educated in Britain before returning to Australia to take over his father's property in northern Victoria. He served as a fighter pilot in Malaya and New Guinea during World War II, and he suffered severe facial injuries after being shot down in 1942. He returned to farming after being discharged in 1944, and he was elected to the Kerang Shire Council in 1946. He was elected to the Senate in 1949, becoming known as a strident anti-communist. He served as Navy Minister from 1958 to 1963, Interior Minister from 1963 to 1964, Works Minister from 1963 to 1967, and Education and Science Minister from 1962 to 1968, and he won the Liberal Party of Australia leadership contest after Harold Holt's disapperance, coming to serve as Prime Minister from 1968 to 1971. He continued Australian involvement in the Vietnam War, but began withdrawing troops amid growing public discontnet. The 1969 federal election reduced his party's majority, and his centralization and economic nationalism policies alienated his own party members. After a vote of confidence against him tied in 1971, he resigned as Prime Minister, and he briefly served as Defense Minister in 1971. In 1975, he mounted a failed Senate campaign as an independent, and he died in 2002 at the age of 90.